5 ‘animal astronauts’ who made it to the space
Popular science fiction and sci-fi movies have sparked our imagination about outer space from the tender days of childhood. Who, among you, haven’t wished to be amidst the stars and galaxies at least once in life? But for us humans, it’s a near impossible dream, or so it seems! However, animals are probably more fortunate than humans while it comes to stepping into the outer space. Starting from fruit flies and dogs to monkeys, a host of our friends from the animal kingdom have set their feet in space. Wondering what makes astronauts choose them over humans? Well, when space research was at a nascent stage, astronauts wouldn’t know how to launch living beings there and whether or not they would be able to survive in the space. So, sending animals became the best choice. Here, we introduce you to some of them.
Fruit flies
On 20th February 1947, USA became the first country to send animals into the outer space. So, the humble fruit flies made a foray into space on a rocket originally designed by the Nazis for the first time, which no creature from Earth had ever ventured into. The intention was to test the effects of radiation on living DNA and fruit flies were chosen due to their genetic similarity with humans. At the end of the trip, the flies were still alive and their genes were not affected by cosmic radiation. In fact, they weren’t mutated in space too.
Monkeys
In June 1948, the first monkey of the rhesus species named Albert I was sent on a space capsule by the US. However, technically speaking, it didn’t make it to space as the capsule had only reached a height of 39 miles instead of 66 miles which is officially considered as space by NASA. In fact, many assume that Albert I may not have even survived the launch. Following this failure, USA once again sent another rhesus named Albert II exactly after a year. This time the rocket reached a promising altitude of 83 miles. In fact, this made Albert II the first primate and mammal to have landed in space. Unfortunately, it didn’t survive the mission as the parachute failed to deploy during the return journey.
Mouse
The USA continued to send more animals into space throughout the 20th century. On 15th August 1950, they decided to launch a mouse after trying out monkeys. The mouse had reached a height of 87 miles but didn’t survive the return for the same reason Albert II didn’t: Parachute malfunction. But this didn’t stop USA from trying out some more. In fact, two weeks later, it reattempted to send another mouse, which didn’t survive the mission. As many as 42 mice were launched throughout the 1950s and it wasn’t until August 1960 that two mouses survived a trip to space and back.
Dogs
In August 1951, the Soviet Union sent the first dogs named Tsygan and Dezik into they outer space, but they didn’t orbit it. Again, in November 1957, a stray dog named Laika, picked up from the streets of Moscow, was sent. This puppy was chosen due to its gentle temperament. Also, scientists believed that a stray would be better equipped to cope with the adversities of the space environment. Though Lyka managed to orbit the Earth, this stray didn’t survive the mission.
Spider
In order to figure out whether spiders can weave a web in space, NASA scientists sent two spiders named Anita and Arabella (cross spiders of the species A. diadematus) into space on a rocket named Skylab 3 in July 1973. While Anita couldn’t make it so far, Arabella not only survived but also successfully spun a web. However, it wasn’t like the ones they weave on Earth. The space web was surprisingly symmetrical!